Downeast lobstermen have been feeling the pinch of a significant price drop from last year and haven't been able to fish some days, as dealers weren't buying lobsters. A number of fishermen say they are having trouble covering the increasing costs of fuel and bait, with some deciding not to haul their traps as often because of the cost just to take their boats out. Dealers, meanwhile, believe that once processors in the Maritimes start being able to handle more product from Maine, the situation should improve.
      Brent Griffin of Edmunds, who fishes with the Triple Trouble out of Eastport, says he hasn't been able to sell on some weekends but that down around Jonesport dealers haven't been buying on some days during the week. As for the price, he notes, "It's a little under half of what we were getting last year," with the boat price he's been receiving having dropped from $8 a pound to around $3.50. However, he says trap prices have gone up to $200, having almost doubled in the last three years, fuel costs have risen by 50% this year, and the cost of bait has increased by 50% over the past three years.
      While catches have not changed much, it "takes a lot more lobsters" to meet expenses than it did previously. Griffin says he needs to catch four to five pounds of lobster per trap to make money. "It costs $2,000 to untie every day" and haul his traps, Griffin notes, adding that amount is just to cover bait and fuel, not any boat payments, insurance or other ongoing costs. The Triple Trouble is fishing four days a week presently. As for whether it would make sense to haul traps less frequently, Griffin says, "Everybody's got payments, and you have to make them."
      Randy Newcomb of Perry, who lobsters with Life Is Good out of Eastport, says the price now is "back to a normal price." While last year lobstermen were receiving $7 or more a pound, he says that was an exception and the price had previously been in the $3.50 to $4 range. "We all like getting paid big money" and don't like it when the price paid is cut in half. "It hurts when it drops back to the normal price," he notes, as the cost of diesel fuel has "almost tripled" and bait prices have nearly doubled. If the demand increases, though, prices paid to the lobstermen should pick up, too.
      "You need three pounds to a trap to make money," says Newcomb, who says he's currently catching about two pounds per trap, so he's only fishing two days a week, hauling all of his 800 traps once a week. When catches start to pick up, then he'll haul all of the traps twice a week. He says that could be any time now.
      Over in Cutler, John Drouin reports that for two days each during the past two weeks the buying station in Cutler wasn't able to sell lobsters to the dealer from Jonesport. The Cutler buyer did take Drouin's lobsters on a day the dealer wasn't buying, as Drouin had fished that day, having not been told beforehand that lobsters weren't going to be bought. "It's very unpredictable" when dealers won't be buying, he notes. He says that the Cutler buyer was taking a chance, as about 100 pounds of lobsters ended up dying out of 30 to 40 crates of product that were brought in one day. "He's bearing the full burden of risk for the losses," Drouin says of the Cutler buyer.
      As for the price, Drouin, who is the chair of the Lobster Zone A Council, says last year Cutler fishermen were receiving $5.10 a pound and this year, as of August 7, they were receiving $1.10, for a $4 drop in price. However, Drouin and other fishermen receive a bonus at the end of the year, but they don't know how much that will be until they are paid. Last year they received $1.95 a pound bonus, which, if it's the same this year, means they actually are receiving $3.05 a pound currently. Drouin believes the bonus practice "is absolutely foolish," noting that lobstermen are taking some financial risk, particularly if the bonus price were to drop.
      "If we get $3, I can still make some money," he says. While some lobstermen have urged that fishermen should not fish for a period of time, so that more product can move through the market and allow the price to come back up, others say that this is the time of year when they can make money. When the price dropped to $1.75 the week of July 8, Drouin didn't fish the following week and only one day the week after that. He's now gone back to fishing, noting that catches are picking up. With the expected bonus, he says he's just clearing expenses, as he has to pay about $1,000 a day for bait, fuel and crew.
      Drouin says one Jonesport dealer said if he didn't drop the boat price from $1.25 to $1.10 he was going to close down for the following week. "Personally, I'd rather take a week off and clean the product out of the pipeline," so the price might go back up, he says. "They wanted to take two weeks off in July," Drouin says of some dealers, but a number of lobstermen said they needed to fish.
      "This is hurting the whole industry. Nobody's making any money," he says. However, he believes within the next two weeks the situation may improve, as more Canadian processors will open up once the Prince Edward Island fishery opens. "We rely far too much on Canada to process our lobsters," Drouin observes, but he notes that starting up more processing plants in Maine would take significant investments of funds.

Dealers offer perspectives
      Albert Carver, owner of A.C. Inc. in Beals, which also buys in Pembroke, says there are many issues causing the low prices, ranging from supply chain to freezer capacity. "If we knew, we'd fix it." He says A.C. Inc. is "not buying on the days we can't sell," but they don't know what those days will be in advance. Carver believes the situation will turn around when the current economic downturn is over, noting that the state of the economy is affecting many different businesses. "You can't get trucks, freezer space" or other equipment for one's business, he says.
      Bimbo Look, co-owner of Look Lobster in Jonesport, which buys in Eastport, Jonesport, Addison and Portland, says the main problem is that lobster processors in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI had filled their cold storage plants with crabs this past fall and winter. "They put up $1.2 billion worth of crabs" but now aren't able to sell it. "Their inventory backed up. They couldn't sell it like they could during the past three years." He says the processors also "loaded up on lobsters" last year.
      According to Look, about 80% of the lobsters caught in Maine are shipped to Canada for processing, with 60% coming back into the U.S. to be sold to cruise ships, casinos and grocery stores.
      "There's no money in it now," Look says of the lobster business. "Three weeks ago, we lost money buying lobsters. I'm getting a quarter of what I should get from the processors." However, he can't hold the lobsters for any length of time at his facilities until the price improves.
      "We only missed two Saturdays," he says of Look's buying from the lobstermen. "You can't ship anywhere on a Saturday night," and because the lobsters are currently of low quality they can't survive long and have to be shipped within 24 hours. Look notes that the higher water temperatures "take a toll on lobsters," and when they go on the mud to shed they suffer a higher mortality rate if the water is warmer.
      The quality of the lobsters being landed in Eastport is presently better than that along most of the coast, since the water is deeper and colder in the Quoddy area, according to Look. He says that in a few weeks the quality of lobsters being caught around Jonesport should improve.
      As for the live market for lobsters, Look says, "That's the only thing keeping the industry afloat." The retail price is ranging from $5 to $5.50 a pound, and Look says people don't understand that if dealers ship lobsters to a restaurant or a grocery chain that perhaps 20 out of 100 lobsters will die. "People think we're making money, but somebody has to pay for the number that die."
      As for the current downturn in the economy, Look says, "People don't need lobster to survive. They are buying gas, food and fuel." He refers to a "COVID hangover," with the "free" federal and state grants having dried up, so people are not buying lobster as much. "When Santa Claus shows up and gives you a lot of money, you can buy lobster with it. When Santa Claus doesn't show up, you're not going to be buying lobster." Of the issues the industry is facing, he says, "It's a perfect storm."
      Look predicts that in a few weeks the market will be better. "It will take a month or two," with lobsters having harder shells and processors buying more product, before the market improves. "Things can turn around in a hurry," he notes.
      Look Lobster, which was founded in 1910, is the oldest lobster company in New England, with Bimbo Look being the fifth generation of Looks to run the firm. He says the past two years have been the best two years both for him and for the fishermen. "When I make money, they make money, and when I lose money, they lose money."
      He adds, "People today don't bother to look the whole picture over and see different points of view than their own."